November, 2011

Knowledgeable cider-drinking folk aren’t just limited to rural patches of Somerset and Kent these days - they’re in the capital city and they’ve got serious thirsts to be met. Thankfully, help is at hand.

Providing London’s cider enthusiasts with a place to drink is The Euston Cider Tap in King’s Cross, just opened by the beer enthusiasts behind The Euston Tap. Sitting across the road from its barley-loving brother, The Euston Cider Tap gives a small nod to cider's rural beginnings in the form of some casual hay bale seating outside the stone lodge, while inside it’s more bar stool chic.

Embedding yourself within the community may not seem like the obvious route to success for a modern brewery, but then Palmers has done its own thing since its birth over two centuries ago.

This year Palmers won not only the Best Community Support award in the Society of Independent Brewers' Business Awards, but also the sole Highly Commended in the Overall Winner category, the latter won by Nottingham's Magic Rock Brewery.

"We thought last year was busy,” laughed Charlie Blomeley, Castle Rock Brewery’s marketing maestro, as she describes her last week.

But then seven days ago this growing micro-brewery walked off not only with the Society of Independent Brewers’ Marketing Business Award, but also its ultimate 2010 trophy, beating off the likes of Freedom, Palmers, Derby and Otter breweries.

It’s official, putting environment and the community at the heart of your company strategy is good for business. So says the Society of Independent Brewers in its annual Business Awards, and so amply demonstrated by Devon’s Otter Brewery with its comprehensive eco-friendly initiatives and Dorset’s Palmers Brewery with its extensive links with the community – more on the latter later.

No sooner had the McCaig family popped their award on the Otter mantelpiece, then the region's major paper, the Western Morning News, lobbed another their way: the Green Achievement Award. I sense a theme here...

We’re half-way through the month of Movember – suitably rechristened in honour of the noble art of fine facial foliage while also raising the profile of men’s health issues – so how are things going your way? I’ve seen some fine pictures illustrating healthy growth, particularly on the Spitfire Movember site.

From the first of the month they have called upon all Mo’ recruits to upload images of the ‘tache in evolution, with one lucky Mo’ Bro’ winning an iPod per week, except for the last week, when it will be a glorious iPad2 up for grabs.

From field to Martini glass, one of Britain’s newest hotshot distilleries, Chase, is opening its doors to the public for three festive days and teaming up with DrinkBritain.com to offer its readers a special insight.

There’s one pair of tickets up for grabs and, in a unique offer, DrinkBritain readers are eligible for a third off the £15 ticket price.